By Elliott Almond, San Jose Mercury News –
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Gabby Douglas won the automatic berth Sunday night, and it took U.S. gymnastics officials only 10 minutes to name her teammates for the London Games.
Jordyn Wieber, McKayla Maroney, Kayla Ross and Aly Raisman joined Douglas — the winner of the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials at HP Pavilion — on the American team favored to win a gold medal.
Douglas won the trials by the narrowest of margins at sold-out HP Pavilion. The Virginia teen slipped past Wieber, the reigning all-around world champion, by 0.1 point on the final event.
Raisman finished third in the two-day all-around competition, followed by Elizabeth Price, Ross and Sarah Finnegan.
It was a tension-filled finish as Douglas and Wieber stood on the floor in their purplish leotards waiting. And hoping. It was their final moment to make a statement.
Wieber’s vault ended in the slightest of hops to score 15.8.
Douglas, 16, went next on the floor exercise. She had her hand to heart upon finishing and then everyone waited for the score. Her score of 15.3 was just enough to take down Wieber.
Only 0.3 points had separated Wieber and Douglas as they entered HP Pavilion on the final day of trials. Then they traded the lead routine after routine.
Douglas started the evening with an impressive vault that earned a 16.0 score. The teen from Virginia Beach, Va., followed that with a 15.9 on the uneven bars. As she landed she flashed her electric smile while Douglas’ father waved an American flag.
Timothy Douglas, an Air Force staff sergeant serving in Afghanistan, arrived in San Jose on Friday in time to watch his daughter at the trials.
He yelled her name during warm-ups at HP Pavilion.
“I’m like, ‘Who’s calling my name?’ ” Gabby Douglas recalled. “And then I look up. It was my dad and his friend, and I haven’t seen him in a while. They were holding up the flag. And I almost felt like bawling. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, Dad.’ ”
Douglas gets so high on her bar exchanges it takes an air traffic controller to follow her.
Wieber followed Douglas with a 15.35 on the uneven bars, not spectacular but more than serviceable.
Wieber, from DeWitt, Mich., started on the lower bars before switching to the high bars in fluid motion. Her twirls ended with a soft landing.
Wieber’s floor began with two flops and two twists and ended with a worthy 15.6 to keep her in contention for the lone automatic berth.
Price turned the heads of the selection committee with her 15.3 score on the bars to start the evening. It’s not one of her strong events but she almost matched Wieber’s score.
For an athlete considered on the bubble it was a big result. Price then recorded a 14.95 score on the floor. She was making it difficult on the three-person selection committee.
Veteran Alicia Sacramone’s dismount on the balance beams earned cheers from the audience. She got a respectable 15.15.
Her 2008 Olympic teammate Nastia Liukin went next on the bars. It was more like a farewell tour. She lost her momentum on the high bar and flopped on the mat headfirst. It wasn’t the way she wanted to end it in San Jose but Liukin, 22, finished.
The audience stood and cheered wildly as she waved while holding back tears.
She went back on the beam in perhaps the final performance of her storied career.
With a big sigh of relief she knew she ended well. Then came tears and hugs from the other competitors.
The judges awarded Liukin, a five-time Olympic medalist, with a 14.95.
